The Trouble with Rest Days...

Written 31st January 2010

Lots of things on my mind today. Total rest days are like that- too much time on your hands. Its a forced rest. I’m off to work tomorrow after a few months off. For the last few months I’ve been focused on improving my fitness but now I have to turn my mind and energies to my ‘other’ passion. I’ve decided to rest all day today to ensure I am ready to earn a quid tomorrow.

So work is on my mind. I have to admit it’s a little hard to start thinking about anything other than exercise, diet, recovery, my goals etc. but alas, it has to happen. After all, it’s important to keep a good balance in life.

Actually I think this is a key aspect of being an endurance athlete. I need to keep a laser-like focus on my endurance goals while also keeping a good balance between work and exercise. Now that it’s time to go back to work it will be interesting to see how successful I am at balancing the different expectations. I’m sure this is a key part of the overall jigsaw of the life of an endurance athlete; not just the time management, tiredness and motivation aspects but also the ability to truly balance two competing goals. I will look forward to learning how this will work in my life. In Buddhist terms, I will need to be ‘mind-ful’ of my thoughts and actions to ensure I achieve a true balance. Should be fun!

Also on my mind is food. Daily Calorie Intake to be exact. When I don’t have scheduled exercise time in my day I tend to fill in the hours by eating more. But this is not good. On ‘normal’ days I have to be vigilant and focused on total calories consumed, and I need to be even more careful on days when I’m not burning them off. All this extra time makes it hard - especially when I go to the movies and get tempted by lots of yummies. (Thankfully I resisted!)

I saw the film ‘Invictus’ today and two great quotes struck me –
- I am master of my own destiny and
- I am master of my own soul.

Apparently it’s what Nelson Mandela kept in his mind when he was incarcerated for all those years. These thoughts have big implications for distance athletes, and therefore for me. These simple statements bring lots of thoughts, for example it says to me ‘if it is to be, it’s up to me’. It also says ... It’s all in my mind, it’s an attitude thing, no-one else can or will determine my fate, what I can conceive I can achieve etc etc. I know, I know there’s a heap of clichés here but I’m sure they will ‘all ring true’ when ‘the going gets tough’ Oops, can’t help myself, ‘I’m on a roll’. Enough, stop it. :-)

My thoughts also turned to my performance in my training lately. I’m still in a base training phase yet I can feel what’s happening. It’s obvious from my previous athletic attempts (or whatever they should be more accurately titled) and from my current performances that I will never be a world beater, even in my age group. But I need to ignore this and stay clear in my own mind of what I am doing – and it’s not to be a world beater.

This journey is a very personal journey, a voyage to experience life to the full, to find a better world through endurance, and to find the real me by pushing myself beyond my limits. It’s not about beating records, or beating anyone else. It’s about finding myself.

It’s easy to get side-tracked – and even de-motivated- when I compare my current performances with the racing times and achievements I read in magazines. I need to see those times as benchmarks only, and to focus on what’s important. That is, my physical, mental and spiritual strength, and the development of personal skills in each discipline.

So, far too much on my mind today. Good thoughts, yes- but I think I prefer the training days.

More later, journey on

James




Word Count - 697